Combination packer



July 9, 1940. G. R. LlNvlLLE l COMBINATION PACKER Filed Jan. 14; 1938 Patenaaliuly 9, 1940 UNITED STATES cormmnrronrracima George E. (Linville, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner to Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company,

.Duncamokla.

Application January 14, 1938,-Serial No. 184,963

. i claims. (or ite- 110)v This invention relates to packers for oil wells.

and more particularly to the combination of a rat hole packer with a wall packer adapted for use in the open hole of an oil well.

In the of oil wells. and particularly in the making of formation tests -in oil wells in accordance with the teachings of the U. S. patent rto Simmons, No. 1,930,9'87,'it is often desirable or .necessary to eiiect a seal between a pipe 10 and the wall of the'well, and various types of packers have been designed forthis purpose. If F the bore of the well lis specially prepared a rat.

hole packer may be employed, as taught in the patent to Simmons mentioned above` I f the well 15 is not specially prepared and isof a fairly uniform diameter so that no shoulder is provided for the seatingof a rat hole packer, a' wall packer `is commonly used to effect this seal.

In accordance `Jvith the principles of the presen invention, itis proposed to'providean arrangement in which a rat hole packerand a wall packer may be simultaneously seated in the uncased portion of an oil well so as to insure the making of an effective seal between' the wall of the bore of the well and drill pipe'` or tubing 'lowered therein.

r Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to devise apparatus adapted to effect a double v'seal between a pipe or a conduit in a well and the wall of the well.

It is a further object ofthe invention to devise novel means for setting and releasing both a wall packer anda cone packer in an oil well...

It is still a further object of the invention to .s devisea novel arrangement for sealing in an oil well in which a wall packer is so constructed that it may expand or ow around the upper portion of a rat hole packer and makean effective seal at that point. 0, It is still another object of the-invention to hole packer and anchor pipe in which each Vof these devices may be individually lifted in succession,` thereby enabling the assembly to be removed from engagement with the wall of the w well.`

lOther objects' and advantagesreside in certain novel arrangement and nstruction of parts -as will. be more apparent from the following .de-

scription teken-in connection with the accomo panying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an -oil well -showing a combination packer con- Y structed in accordance with the principles-of the invention being lowered therein;

more 2 1s a verticalV cross-sectional view of anV oil well with the combination packer of,l Figure 1 the packers being shown in'therelation- -ship which theyl occupy when seated: Figure 31s -a fragmentary view of the body porada bore I I immediately above the shoulder I5.

devise a novel combination of wall packer, rat I tion of the assembly of Figure l illustrating the position of the pin and slot'connection while the apparatus is being lowered into the well; and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 and illustrating the position of the pin and slot when 5 the packers are seated within the well.

Referring to the drawing inc detail, it will be seen that an oil well is there illustrated-as having a main bore hole II and a rat hole I2. The combination packer constructed in accordance with thepresent /invention includes a rat hole packer I3 and a wall packer I4, the rat hole pack- 'er being adapted to seat upon a shoulder I5 in the bore ofthe well and the wall packer I4 being ptd to seal-the lower portion of the main The combination packer assembly may be lowered into the well by means of tubing or'drill pipe II,l the lower end of which is connected to a sleeve member Il as by'means of the threaded' con- 20 necting member I8. The sleeve member I-I is provided with an inwardly extending flange or shoulder I9 near its lower end. Beneath this shoulder the sleeve member is threaded to pro` vide means for making connection to the upper shoe' 20 vof the wall packer I4. The shoe 20 is providedwith a depending cylindrical portion the lower end of which isinwardly anged, as illustrated, to fit-tightly around an' outwardly anged portion at the upper end of the packer I4. so By this. arrangement it is not necessary to vulcanize the shoe to the packer.

The wall packer I4 extends downwardly from. the shoe 20 and consists merely of a vulcanized rubber cylinder.v There is no shoe on the lower end of ,the wall packer I4.

vSupported within the sleeve I1 is a mandrel 2| which extends downwardly within the wall packer I4 and the rat hole packer lI3 to be connected at its lower end toa section Yof perforated anchor pipe 22. The mandrel is provided with an out- 40 vwardly extended anged lportion 2t at its upper end lso as to'provide an,abutment. cooperating with the shoulder ls on the sleeve may l1 when the drill' pipe I6 is lifted upwardly. Tension mayl thus be transmitted from the `drill pipe to the anchor pipe through the mandrel. Ihe ilanged portion.23 is provided with one `or more radially extending pins 24 which are adapted to cooperate with J-slots 25 in the sleeve body I1 for cony trolling" relative=movement between this sleeve body and the mandrel.r When the-pin 24 is in thepositionshown in Figures l and 3, there can be very. limited longitudinal movement between the body. I1 and the mandrel. When, however, the v 55 sleeve -body I1 is rotatedv slightly in `a lefthand. direction as viewed from the top by means of the drill pipe I6, therecan'v be considerablelongitudinal movementbetween these members within.

the`limits of the longitudinalportion of theslot tion shown in Figures 2 and 4.

The rat hole packer I3 includes a numberof exible disks,.such as fabric or belting, clamped upon a sleeve 26 by means of nuts' 21 and-.28. This assembly, including the sleeve 26, may be moved slightly longitudinally upon the mandrel It will be seen that the wall packer I4, which may be made of comparatively soft rubber, is so arranged with respect to the rat hole packer that it may be pressed down and iiow around the upper shoe 28 oi the rat hole packer when the assembly is seated in the well to eect a sealing operation between the conduit consisting of the pipe I6, the sleeve body I'I, the mandrel 2| and the pipe 22. It will also beapparent that the wall packer I4 may be easily assembled with the upper. shoe 20, the assembly consisting merely of placing the shoe upon the upper portion of the packer before the mandrel is passed therethrough.

In using the apparatus to effect a seal, it is lowered into the well with the parts in the relative positions shown in Figure 1. The ra't hole packer may be spudded into the rat hole by raising and lowering the drill pipe I6, the wall packer remaining in the position shown in Figure 1 at this time, while the stresses to the rat hole packer are transmitted through the pins 24. `After the rat hole packer is spudded in the drill pipe may` be rotated slightly, as described above,to bring the pins 24 into the proper position in the slots 25 to enable the sleeve body II to be moved downwardly with respect to the mandrel, thus causing the wall packer to'expand or bulge out into engagement with the wall of the well and at the same time iiow over and around the shoe 28 and the upper portion of the rat hole packer as described above. It is to accomplish this: that the wall packer has been specially designed of comparatively soft rubber. After the seal has thus been effected, the testing operations may be carried on if the assembly is used in connection with a formation tester or'oth'er operations performed, depending upon the purpose in effecting a seal within a well.

A particular advantage of the present arrangey ment results from the ease with which the as- .sembly may be removed from the well. It maybe that there will be a great dierence in pressure between the mud above the wall packer and the interior of the drill pipe I6, particularly WhereV the assembly is used with a formation tester. This difference in pressure may be the cause to some extent of the wall packer flowing around the rat hole packer, as described above, and thus aid in eecting aproper seal. With ordinary packer constructions, however, this difference in pressure renders it diiiicult to remove the apparatus from the well, since any lifting action on the packer must be against this pressure.

It is often very difli'cult to remove a packer assembly from a well for the further reason that the rat hole has partially collapsed andformed bridges around the anchor pipe. If, in order to remove a combined wall packer, rat hole packer` I 2,207,019 '25. Tli'eparts may then take the relative posi- A and anchor, all of these parts have to'be lifted at the same time, a tremendous strain must be taken inthe drill pipe,not only because these partsare apt to stick, but also because of the pressure difference mentioned above. With the present arrangement, however, the wall packer, the rat hole packer and the anchor may be lifted separately and individually. Upon rst taking a strain in the drill pipe I6 the wall packer I4 is lifted, the sleeve body |I merely moving upwardlywith respect to the mandrel. After this packer is released the strain is transmitted to the mandrel which rst lifts the anchor pipe and then as the collar 30 contacts the lower shoe 2l of the rat hole packer, this packer is released from engagement with the shoulder I5 of the bore hole.

It will thus be 'seen that a very effective but simple arrangement has been provided for seating and releasing both a wall packer and a cone packer in an oil well formation.

While only one embodiment of `the invention has been shown and described herein, it is obvious that various changes may be made in the arrangement and construction of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the annexed claims.

. I claim:

l. A packer assembly for use in oil wells or the like including a sleeve body adapted to be connected to drill pipe or tubing, a mandrel mounted for longitudinal movement with respect to said body, a rubber wall packer connected only at its upper end to said body and mounted for longitudinal movement on said mandrel, and a cone packer mounted on said mandrel beneath said wall packer, the arrangement being such that as the packers are seated the wall packer flows around the top of the cone packer and after the packers are seated, they may be released indelpendently by raising said sleeve body.

2. A- packer assembly for use in oil wells or the nected to drill pipe or tubing, a mandrel mounted for longitudinal movement with respect to said body, a wall packer connected to said body and mounted for longitudinal movement onsaid mandrel, and a cone packer mounted on said mandrel beneath said wall packer, said cone packer including a sleeve mounted for limited vertical play on said mandrel.

3. A 'packerassembly for use in oil wells or the like including a sleeve body adapted to be connected to drill pipe or tubing, a mandrel mounted for longitudinal movement with respect to said body, a. wall packer connected to said body and mounted for longitudinal movement on said mandrel, and a cone packer mounted on said being made of rubber and so disposed as to be capable of owing down over said shoe when the packers are seated.

4J A packer assembly for use in AoilXwells or the'like including a sleeve body adapted to be connected to `drill pipe or tubing, a. mandrel mounted for longitudinal movement with respect to said body, a wall packer connected to said body and mounted for longitudinal movement on said mandrel, and a cone packer mounted on said l mandrel beneath said wall packer, said body and said mandrel being connected through a pin and slot arrangement whereby relative longitudinal movement may be prevented during certain phases of the operation of the assembly.

GEORGE R. LINVZILLE. 

